Contents

Early life

Anderson was born in Comox, British Columbia, the daughter of Carol, a waitress, and Barry Anderson, a furnace repairman.[3] Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was Finnish, a native of Saarijärvi, and left Finland in 1908[4] changing his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Anderson has Dutch ancestry on her mother's side.[5]

The newborn Anderson won fame as Canada's "Centennial Baby", because she was thought to have been the first baby born on Canada's Centennial Day (she was born at 4:08 in the morning). However, the Campbell River Upper Islander of July 5, 1967 reported a baby born two hours earlier on the same Canada Day.[6]

Career

After graduating from Highland Secondary School in 1985, Anderson moved to Vancouver and worked as a fitness instructor. During the summer of 1989, Anderson went with her friends to a BC Lions game at BC Place; at some point during the game she was shown on the stadium screen wearing a Labatt's t-shirt, causing the crowd to cheer for the 21-year-old Anderson. She was taken down to the field to get an ovation from the crowd. Labatt's immediately offered Anderson a modeling contract and she accepted. In late 1989, Anderson decided to model for Playboy magazine. She first appeared as their October 1989 cover girl. At this stage in her modeling career, she had decided to live in Los Angeles to further pursue her career ambitions. She became a centerfold for Playboy when the magazine chose her to be their Playmate of the Month for their February 1990 issue. Anderson has since appeared in Playboy several times in the 1990s and the following decade.

Acting and modeling

After her move to Los Angeles, Anderson bleached her brunette hair blonde and underwent breast augmentation. In 1991, she landed a minor role as the original "Tool Time girl" on the hit television sitcom, Home Improvement. She left the show after two seasons and landed the role of C. J. Parker on Baywatch. Anderson was still modeling for Outdoor Life and appearing on the cover of the magazine each year. Her role as C.J. Parker gave her more popularity and gained her attention from international viewers. She returned to Baywatch for the 2003 reunion movie, Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding. She also made appearances on The Nanny as Fran's rival, Heather Biblow.

In 1996, she appeared in a feature film, Barb Wire, as a character known as Barbara Rose Kopetski, which was mistakenly thought by some to have been her real name. The movie, a thinly-veiled futuristic remake of Casablanca, failed to achieve commercial success. During the filming of Barb Wire, Anderson suffered a miscarriage. In April 1997, she guest-hosted Saturday Night Live. During the beginning of the show, Anderson said, "You know, if you're nervous on stage, you actually should be naked!" She then began a striptease. Her breasts, however, were covered by a small flesh-colored bra and she also wore a crotch patch that was also flesh colored (though they were still blurred out for the sake of the joke). The segment became fodder for late-night comedians for the following weeks. She also appeared on one of two covers for the September issue of Playboy; the other cover pictured Jenny McCarthy.

In September 1998, Anderson starred in her produced series V.I.P. It was very poorly received and a critical bomb. However, with many people tuning in just to see her, the show lasted four seasons before being canceled in 2002. Anderson stated that she needed to dedicate her time to raising her children, but many believed that she was retiring.

On April 15, 1999, Anderson decided to remove her breast implants. The main reason was that Anderson's modeling career was on the downfall. She needed to raise her children and possibly retire, but about a year later, Anderson decided to get breast implants back. The new implants were bigger than the first ones she claimed.

In March 2001, Christine Evelyn Roth was arrested while sleeping in a guest room of Anderson's home. She was only charged with the misdemeanor of trespassing and not the more serious crime of stalking. Roth pleaded guilty to the charge of trespassing and was deported home to France. In 2004, Anderson returned to the spotlight. In May, she appeared naked on the cover of Playboy magazine. It was the first time, she had appeared naked on any magazine cover. Later, she posed naked for Stuff and GQ magazines. Many noticed that her breast size was larger than her pictorials from 2003.

Anderson became a naturalized citizen of the United States on May 12, 2004, while retaining her Canadian citizenship. She has lived in Southern California since 1989. Anderson has often spoken revealingly about her private life. On a visit to the David Letterman show in 2004, she said she had not been dating for some time, and when Letterman asked her how she was coping, she responded, "There's not a square corner left anywhere in my house!" Letterman left that comment unanswered while the audience hooted.

In 2004, Pamela Anderson released the book Star, co-written by Eric Shaw Quinn, in which she describes a young teenager doing different things in order to reach fame. After this, she began touring the United States, signing autographs for fans at Wal-Mart stores nationwide. Her second book, the sequel Star Struck, released in 2005, is a thinly veiled look at her life with Tommy Lee and the travails of celebrity life.

In January 2005, Anderson confessed that she had new bigger breast implants, claiming not to feel like herself without them.

In April 2005, Anderson starred in a new FOXsitcomStacked as Skyler Dayton, a party girl (with implants), who goes to work at a bookstore. It was canceled on May 18, 2006, after two seasons, although some episodes had not been aired on the network. On August 14, 2005, Comedy Central created the Roast of Pamela Anderson to honor the sex symbol for the past decade. During her final speech at the Roast, Anderson referred to her breasts as "Pancho and Lefty".

In December 2005, NBC cut off a video of Anderson pole dancing topless on Elton John's "The Red Piano." NBC said that the footage was inappropriate for primetime. The video was shown on huge screens during the event, while John was playing a song. Anderson was topless, but stars were painted on her breasts.

In March 2006, it was announced that Anderson would receive a star on Canada's Walk of Fame thanks to her many years as a model and actress. She is only the second model to receive a star. In April 2006, Anderson hosted Canada's Juno Awards, becoming the first non-singer and model to do so. In May 2006 Anderson and swedish model Sigrid Åhs met during a television show, Åhs is notable as one of the worlds most famous Pamela Anderson look-a-likes.

Between June and December of 2007, Anderson appeared alongside Dutch magician Hans Klok in his Las Vegas show, The Beauty of Magic, replacing his previous celebrity guest assistant, Carmen Electra. During this show, Anderson was levitated high into the air, impaled by a number of burning spikes, and sawed in half. For the show, Anderson wore a silver sequinned swimsuit, modelled on her Baywatch costume, and a sequinned bodystocking.

Reality television

In November 2010, Anderson appeared on season 4 of Bigg Boss, the Indian version of the Big Brother television franchise. She stayed as a guest in the house for three days for a reported sum of Rs. 2.5 crores (approx US$ 550,000).[10] Furthering her involvement in the franchise, In September 2011, Anderson took part in the 12th season of Big Brother in the United Kingdom.[11] On September 9, 2012, it was officially announced that she will enter the House in Bulgaria on September 16, taking part in the fourth season of VIP Brother, which is the celebrity spin-off of Big Brother in Bulgaria.[12]

Dancing on Ice

Reunion with Hans Klok

In November 2017 it was announced that Anderson would appear at a number of shows from Hans Klok's 2018 House of Mystery tour. She reprised her appearance in the "Fire Spiker" illusion that she had performed with Klok in 2007.

Personal life

In addition to her fame from modeling and acting, Anderson has received a great deal of press attention for her well-publicized personal life. Her relationships have made headlines in gossip magazines for years. Anderson married Tommy Lee, drummer of Mötley Crüe, on February 19, 1995 after knowing him for only 96 hours and the couple eventually had two sons, Brandon Thomas Lee (b. June 6, 1996) and Dylan Jagger Lee (b. December 29, 1997). During this time, she was known professionally as Pamela Anderson Lee. Anderson filed for divorce from Lee twice and reconciled with him twice, before the couple finally broke up for good. In March 2002, Anderson publicly stated that she had contracted the Hepatitis C virus from Lee (supposedly from sharing tattoo needles), and began writing a regular column for Jane magazine. In October 2003, Anderson jokingly said on Howard Stern's radio show that she does not expect to live more than ten or fifteen years,[19] but this was misconstrued and taken seriously by many websites and tabloids. She however admitted to newspapers that she still often had sex with him since their divorce.[20]

A pornographichome video of Anderson and Tommy Lee on their honeymoon was stolen from their home, and made a huge stir on the Internet. Anderson sued the Internet Entertainment Group, the company that was distributing the video. Ultimately, the courts awarded Anderson and Lee $1.5 million plus attorney fees for their share of the profits. After this, the company sold copies of the stolen honeymoon tape across the country. It was very popular.[21]

A second tape, which was made before the Tommy Lee tape, involving Anderson and musician Bret Michaels from Poison was later announced, and an abridged version of less than 60 seconds appeared on the internet. Frames of the video first appeared in Penthouse magazine in March 1998. However, the tape was successfully blocked by Michaels, and the full, unedited version has never been seen by the general public.

Since her divorce, she has become engaged to both the model Marcus Schenkenberg and the singer Kid Rock (Robert J. Ritchie). She broke up with Schenkenberg in 2001, and broke up with Kid Rock in 2003. It was announced on July 18, 2006 that she would marry Kid Rock on July 29, 2006 on a yacht near St Tropez, France. "Feels like I've been stuck in a time warp," said Anderson in her blog entry. "Not able to let go of MY family picture ... it's been sad and lonely and frustrating ... I've raised my kids alone in hope of a miracle. Well my miracle came and went. And came back and back because he knew that I'd wake up one day and realize that I was waiting for nothing." "I'm moving on," she declared. "I feel like I'm finally free ... I'm in love." There was extensive unconfirmed media speculation that the marriage was pregnancy-related, but the theory was based only on Anderson's representative's refusal to comment on the question.[22]

She put her Malibu, California, home up for sale in order to move to a more private location. In an interview with Gavriel Maynard, Anderson stated "I don't know why people consider me stupid, I'm actually really smart."

On November 10, 2006, it was announced that Anderson miscarried while in Vancouver shooting a new film, Blonde and Blonder.[23] Seventeen days later, on November 27, 2006, Anderson filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court from Kid Rock, citing irreconcilable differences.[24] Some news reports have suggested that Kid Rock's outrage during a screening of Borat, in which she plays a cameo role, led to the filing for divorce two weeks later.[25]

Anderson told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres in September 2007 that she was engaged. On September 29, Anderson and Paris Hilton's ex Rick Salomon applied for a marriage license in Las Vegas.[26] Anderson married Salomon between her two nightly appearances at the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino in Hans Klok's magic show in a small wedding ceremony at The Mirage on October 6, 2007.[27] However, on February 22, 2008, Anderson has requested through the courts that the marriage be annulled citing reasons of fraud.[28]

One of Anderson's campaigns as a member of PETA has been against the use of fur. In 1999, Anderson received the first Linda McCartney Memorial Award for animal rights protectors, in recognition of her campaign against fur. In 2003, Anderson stripped down for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" advertising campaign. On June 28, 2006, Anderson posed naked with other protesters on a window display of the Stella McCartney boutique in London, England. It was a PETA gala event before the PETA Humanitarian Awards. Anderson went inside the boutique and said she would take her clothes off if the event raised enough money for PETA, which it did.

She has also actively campaigned against Kentucky Fried Chicken. In 2001, Anderson released a letter in support of PETA's campaign against Kentucky Fried Chicken, stating "What KFC does to 750 million chickens each year is not civilized or acceptable." She later made a video about KFC's treatment of chickens.[31] In January 2006, Anderson requested that the Governor of Kentucky remove a bust of Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC, from display but her request was refused even when she offered her own bust in exchange. In February 2006, Anderson decided to boycott the Kentucky Derby because of its support for Kentucky Fried Chicken.

More recently she joined forces with PETA in a campaign for the boycott of fruit-juice maker POM. The "Pom Horrible Campaign"[32] has resulted in response to the company's refusal to halt animal tests.

Appearances in Playboy special editions

Anderson's Playboy career spans approximately two decades (1989-2007). During that time, she has graced twelve of Playboy's covers--more than anyone else. She has also made appearances in the publication's newsstand specials:

Playboy's Playmate Review Vol. 7 June 1991 - cover.

Playboy's Nudes December 1991 - cover.

Playboy's International Playmates January 1992.

Playboy's Girls of Summer '92 June 1992.

Playboy's Calendar Playmates November 1992 - cover.

Playboy's Girls of Summer '93 June 1993 - pages 6-7, 44.

Playboy's Wet & Wild Women July 1993.

Playboy's Video Playmates September 1993.

Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 33 September/October 1993.

Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 34 November/December 1993.

Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 35 January 1994.

Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 36 March 1994.

Playboy's Playmates in Paradise March 1994 - pages 38-43.

Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 37 May 1994.

Playboy's Girls of Summer '94 June 1994.

Playboy's Book of Lingerie Vol. 38 July 1994.

Playboy's Nudes November 1994.

Playboy's Hot Denim Daze May 1995 - page 15.

Playboy's Nude Celebrities July 1995 - cover.

Playboy's Pamela Anderson May 1996 - cover.

Playboy's Nude Celebrities March 1997 - cover.

Playboy's Sexy 100 February 2003 - cover.

In the original Playboy spread, one of Anderson's poses was a little more revealing than Playboy normally provides. In subsequent reprintings in Playboy Newsstand Specials, as well as in a mass-market poster, that area was airbrushed.

The reason she accompanied Diesel instead was that Shawn Michaels had a real life altercation with her then husband, Tommy Lee, backstage.[33][34][35] It was written into the script that Anderson wanted to stay away from Michael but no official reason was given.

After pinning Michaels, Diesel left with both Anderson and McCarthy.

In anticipation of her appearance at the Royal Rumble, several skits were produced featuring wrestlers fawning over Anderson. One commercial featured Anderson coming home and checking her answering machine. As Anderson strips down behind a curtain, messages from wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, Diesel, and Doink the Clown can be heard.

She appeared on former Pro Wrestling commentator Mark Madden's Pittsburgh-based sports talk radio show in October, 2006.

Newman House

Built in 2003, Newman House is a pop architecture icon in St Kilda, Victoria, Australia which features a large effigy of Anderson's face. Built by local celebrity Sam Newman (an admirer and personal friend of Anderson), he commissioned local architect Cassandra Fahey to design the building and was able to use the image with Anderson's permission. However, permits were issued retroactively when it became a major local landmark and won the award for Best New Residential Building in the RAIAVictorian Architecture Awards.[36]Template:-